Nu Skin Enterprises: China Back To Business As Usual

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) plans to “immediately” return to running its corporate business meetings in China. In spite of the news, however, shares fell by nearly 2% in morning trading today at the New York Stock Exchange.

Nu Skin highlights importance of China

The company has repeatedly talked about how important China is to its success and growth, and it was no different in Saturday’s press release. In fact, almost 30% of Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS)’s total global revenue was from China last year—a significant increase from 10% the year before.

“China is an important marketplace for Nu Skin and we are committed to operating in full compliance with China’s direct selling regulations to promote long-term success,” said Dan Chard, president of global sales and operations, in a statement. “We plan to continue working cooperatively with regulatory agencies and refine our training procedures to further educate our sales force on local laws and company policies.”

Nu Skin still battling pyramid scheme allegations

Last year shares of Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) skyrocketed, gaining more than 270%, as Forbes staff writer Samantha Sharf notes. This year, however, the stock has fallen by 37% as the company battles allegations raised by Citron Research, the firm which alleges that Nu Skin is a pyramid scheme and advises investors to sell its shares short.

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NYSE) also suffered after a January report in the Chinese newspaper People’s Daily, which also alleged that it is a pyramid scheme. Then Chinese officials launched an investigation into the company and it announced that it was putting meetings on hold. Nu Skin also stopped accepting applications for new salespeople in China.

Then last month, the company said it was fined $540,000 for the sale of certain products through direct salespeople. China had only approved those products to be sold in retail stores. Six of the company’s salespeople were also hit with a collective $241,000 fine in connection with their promotional activities.

Nu Skin to report earnings May 6

In the weekend announcement, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) also said it will release the earnings results from the first quarter before opening bell on May 6. The multi-level marketing company said it will also update guidance in that report.

Management will hold a conference call on the same day at 11 a.m. Eastern. They will talk about past results and future business initiatives. A webcast of the call will be available at Nu Skin’s investor website. A replay will also be available there through May 16.